Former No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons has reached an agreement to sign with the Kings, his agents tell ESPN’s Shams Charania and Marc J. Spears (Twitter link).
According to Charania and Spears, Simmons will be signing a one-year, $3.5MM contract. That’s a minimum-salary deal for the 30-year-old, who has nine years of NBA service and qualifies for a veteran minimum worth $3,524,115, while the Kings will carry a cap hit of $2,449,421. It’s unclear whether or not that salary will be guaranteed.
Simmons has had an up-and-down NBA career that began when he missed the entire 2016/17 season due to a foot injury. He was named Rookie of the Year with the Sixers a year later, then earned All-Star berths in each of his next three seasons. He also finished among the top four in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2020 and 2021 and made the All-Defensive first team in each of those two seasons.
However, Simmons didn’t play at all in 2021/22 as he sought a trade out of Philadelphia and dealt with a back injury. The 6’10” guard/forward was eventually dealt to Brooklyn as part of a deal for James Harden, but the back issues continued to plague him as a Net. He underwent surgeries in May 2022 and March 2024 and ultimately appeared in just 90 games for Brooklyn over the course of two full seasons and two additional half seasons.
Simmons was waived by the Nets after the 2025 trade deadline and finished that season with the Clippers, but he didn’t play at all during the 2025/26 season, spending some time away from the court and making an effort to get back to 100% health. He recently suggested that he was on the comeback trail and was seeking a new NBA opportunity, with reporting around that time indicating that he appears to be injury-free and has recaptured his previous athleticism.
Simmons, who holds career averages of 13.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 7.2 assists, and 1.5 steals per game in 383 regular season outings, was a dynamic play-maker and elite defender in his prime, but his poor jump shot limited his ceiling and created floor-spacing problems in certain lineups.
More to come…